MindsEye Studio, Build a Rocket Boy, Continues to Circle The Drain: Layoffs Imminent
By now, it’s impossible to have missed news that MindsEye, the pseudo-open-world sci-fi action game from Build a Rocket Boy, has had a terrible response from the public. The studio has now confirmed early reports that staff will almost certainly be laid off, in an official statement.
“We can confirm that we have had to make the painful decision to notify our hardworking team of some internal changes at Build A Rocket Boy. While we are working to reassign roles for as many of those impacted by these changes as possible, sadly we are initiating a formal consultation process that may result in redundancies.”
“This decision has not been made lightly, and we are committed to handling this process with transparency, fairness, and respect for all employees. We will provide further details to the team over the coming weeks.”
“The launch of MindsEye has been a significant milestone for Build A Rocket Boy, but we know that we still have a lot more to do to grow our community in the coming years. The challenges we’ve faced have only strengthened our resolve and, while we are deeply saddened by today’s decision and thankful to our incredible team, this shift allows us to focus on delivering ongoing updates and performance optimization for MindsEye, while also ensuring the long-term success of Build A Rocket Boy’s future ambitions.”
What Happened?
MIndsEye launched on June 10 with multiple issues, and these were compounded by mass refunds across various platforms. All of this news swirled around comments by Co-CEO Mark Gerhard that ‘100% of bad press was paid for,’ alongside claims that a sizable number of positive comments posted online were the work of bots.
Build a Rocket Boy has denied these claims, although there’s no denying that a lot of comments are extremely promotional. Gamers with eagle eyes and keen ears will also have noticed the extremely overhyped marketing language used in MindsEye’s own promotional content, which presented the game as something truly unique.
Tellingly, although Gerhard was initially very vocal about the game, there’s only been radio silence from him after the launch (he also didn’t respond to Eneba’s requests for a comment). Leslie Benzies, the Game Director and other founder of Build a Rocket Boy, has not made any public comments since launch.
One of the last things he was quoted as saying, on the official Build a Rocket Boy X (Twitter) account, was: “I don’t think we could have worked longer, harder, or put as much blood and guts, sweat into it.”
Build Yourself Back Up
Sometimes there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but other times that light is an oncoming train. MindsEye is, by any metric, a trainwreck. But, that’s not to say there aren’t still players who are hopeful for something to be salvaged from the wreckage.
The game’s official Discord is full of both fans and detractors, but a recurring belief is that the Build.MindsEye UGC (user generated content) aspect is something that might be able to redeem the game.
“Specifically in MindsEye with their STAMP and Credit system, it encourages sharing of creations between creators, which has the ability to skyrocket the abilities and capabilities of creators as they can all build on top of each other’s expertise, instead of having to do everything on their own,” said user and moderator Thef.
“A platform like MindsEye that is a no-code tool as well, would encourage people that maybe aren’t coders, but can create amazing environments and assets, to be able to build things without that additional barrier on their skillset as well,” they added.
“The only big thing I see going for it is STAMPs and the Credit system, which creates a collaborative environment,” echoed another user, Chip.
Next Steps
The most recent MIndsEye hotfix was released by Build a Rocket Boy on June 18, with a third full update slated for release by the end of this month. With the recent ‘restructuring’ news from the studio, this means, technically, more resources/money could be freed up to funnel into the game, although this is a charitable take on the impending redundancies.
In terms of potential lay-offs, Build a Rocket Boy is registered in the UK. This means that, by UK law, the company doesn’t have to bother with a proper consultation if the number of affected staff is under 20. Otherwise, Build a Rocket Boy can’t take any formal action against staff for at least a month. In other words, concrete news related to redundancies likely won’t be known until close to the end of July.
